Most liked posts in thread: Odsal Redevelopment, Council Finances, Council Services & The Private Sector

Your first part is right. Your second part is subjective. Great contribution though Silver, no honest...

 

Very interesting piece that Rod. A lot to question in the report, not just about government cuts but also about society in general. Lets not make this all about the conservatives curbing spending, i'd actually question what the hell the council were spending this extra cash they had years ago. And the cost of child placements going up from £3,600 to £6,000 in 2 years, the amount of children in care going up by 61% in 10 years, maybe its time serious questions were asked about people rather than systems? And this lot are gonna be let loose with £100s of millions for the 2025 city of culture? Anyway, my apologies for the thread drift, feel free to move my post, just don't send me a lengthy reason why if you do.

 

It is absolutely disgusting that these companies are hiding in plain sight. I would like to say I am shocked but I am not. When I first started in Bradford you had a mixed case load, children, elderly and MH. We had good residential homes for the elderly. Good care given by experienced staff and no one need seek out private care as what the Council was offering was just as good if not better. However, they went as it was initially costing more than private to run. My question then and now is how? There you have it @Dennis. Once the council homes went the price went up!

plus here we go with the price increase of Council Tax

 

Good grief. The situation is even more horrific than I realised.
The hypocrisy is mind-blowing. These holding companies, stuffed with Tory ex-ministers etc, are the ones paying poverty wages to care staff. So few British people are prepared to do such tough work for so little money that we are importing hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, mostly from Africa, to cover our essential workforce shortage. So it’s actually the Tories, their friends, donators etc who are responsible for the huge legal immigrant ‘crisis’ that their government is having a meltdown about.

 

And the misery continues. If Cleverley’s proposed minimum income changes, and ban on dependents (which many on these pages support) go through we are going to see the influx of essential care workers dry up and many existing care staff leave. The prospects for the care sector are horrific, as are the knock on effects on the NHS. This is where Tory austerity economics and privatisation have got us.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/dec/18/if-we-fail-the-nhs-will-fail-tories-drive-to-cut-migration-leaves-social-care-on-a-cliff-edge?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

It still angers me to think about it but I have calmed down somewhat in the 2 years since.

 

And this never happens in the private sector, of course

 

You're right Kev.

Despite years and years of 'austerity' where living standards have significantly dropped, poverty increased, disposable income at a premium, the national debt has gone from over £1 trillion in 2011 to over £2.55 trillion in 2023!!! Councils are strapped for cash and searching for every available £ but Rishi unilaterally decides to extend his £40 million private helicopter taxi service!!


UK National Debt - Current, Recent, Historical 2019_2029Charts Tables (ukpublicspending.co.uk)

Rishi Sunak personally intervenes to keep his VIP RAF helicopter rides by getting new defence secretary Grant Shapps to reverse decision to axe £40million contract | Daily Mail Online

 

The Bulls look on their knees. Coached on the cheap, crowds dropped off and recruitment that looks so desperate they look in the shadow of Keighley. Club is going nowhere, so no wonder they are clutching at straws with an application like this.

 

The Cougars have funding for a new stand by all accounts. Basically within their means. Not pie in the sky like the Bulls.

 

This the same analysis that said the City Park would bring in £80m per year.

 

The £625m these visitors would bring makes me laugh. That's £500 for each visitor.
So a lad and his dad watching a Bulls game is expected to generate £1,000. Is Salt Bae doing the catering?

 

So lets move from Valley parade , a 25000 seater stadium on the edge of the city centre . 16000+ fans travelling across to the edge of the city , depriving all the bars and shops on north parade and Manningham lane of vast amounts of income.
The Doncaster game i heard one pub took almost £7000 between 12 and 3 and ran out of beer.
Are the council not pedestranising North parade to help the bars and area. The only people that will make from this , will be the stadium owners , as there is only a couple of pubs around and the top house is tiny, can not cram a few thousand in there.
Also did the roof on no1 court at wimbledon cost £85million. Pie in the sky again from the council.

 

As someone who regularly visits Odsal to watch motorsport I sincerely hope this fantasy goes the way of the other 'schemes' proposed for Odsal.
The last time the so called 'superdome' white elephant was on the cards a successful and profitable sport - stock car racing - was kicked out.
Fast forward 30 years and Odsal was derelict and slowly rotting away.
It took a stock car promoter to get it back open and running again. Now it's once again a viable multisport venue the council wake up and cone up with this fantasy.
Leave well alone Bfd Council. Oval racing operates across the UK without bailouts and taxpayer cash. Odsal should be left to be run as a motorsport/rugby venue. Stock car racing operates within totally realistic budgets and if they can get it reopened and running again then leave well alone.

 

It shows how far the Bulls have fallen in that it took another sport to allow them back to their 'home'. Truth is, without a major tenant in the building like for example City, this stadium doesn't have the justification for being built. Speedway is insignificant in this country, stockcars has an audience but nowhere near enough to make a difference and rugby league without an investor willing to lose money is dead in Bradford. The odd concert here and there and rugby semi final is not going to create the revenue needed to entice investors to part with their money.
As for the development itself, if you take the figures quoted in the reports of revenue and customers then also take the build cost of £100 million with a pinch of salt. Cost will most definitely go up as with every council led project, usually with little justification.
And to clear i'd love to see Bradford with a sporting venue/centre that is fit for the next generation of Bradfordians. But unless that definitely includes Bradford City then it cannot work

 

Remember those soulless miserable wet nights when we were groundless after the disaster?
A life long City fan like me found the experience truly awful…I never thought I would say this but it was an absolutely relief to go to an away ground or Leeds Rd Huddersfield.

Location
Lack of local amenities
Not easy to get to unless one lived in South Bradford

If there was such a place NOT to build a stadium in relation to the City it serves……this was ( is ) it!

This is once again absolute b/s from naive politicians trying to gain capital from a tiny handful of constituents. Sheer and utter madness.

 

More pie in the sky nonsense.

It shouldn't and won't happen. There is absolutely no need for it.